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Jolly.com UDRP: “Is someone trying to steal it from me?”

Woman is understandably confused that someone tried to get the domain Jolly.com through a UDRP.

A Turkish company has failed to take the domain name Jolly.com away from its owner, who was understandably confused by being on the receiving end of a UDRP.

Club Jolly Turizm ve Ticaret A.Ş. filed the complaint against Jon B. Jolly, Inc., a company that appears to be owned by a Seattle man named Jon Jolly. The complaint was responded to by Mary Ruth Jolly. The domain appears to have been owned since February 1997, before the complainant had trademark rights in the term “Jolly”.

In response to the UDRP filing, Mary Ruth Jolly wrote:

I do not understand what is happening with my domain Jolly.com Nothing has been changed or should be changed. Is someone trying to steal it from me?

Well, that might be a fair analysis of the situation.

The World Intellectual Property Organization panel found for the domain owner on the issues of rights/legitimate interests in the domain name as well as if the domain was registered in bad faith.

While panelist Dr. Clive N.A. Trotman made the right decision, it would have been nice if he’d considered reverse domain name hijacking.